> Here's a quotable quote: 'The US is now the only member of the UN security council whose word is law, with the result that the UN is one of the world's most effective instruments for the projection of American power.' I won't bother to come up with the obvious counter-example to this. It's bound to be an 'exception' that proves George Monbiot's rule.
> Here's another quotable quote, from an Iraqi communist: '"I was 25 when I first heard this poem," a man in his 60s wearing an old Lenin cap told me. "We used to dream of changing the world. Maybe now we have a future."' Read the rest.
> Code talkers:
Retired Major Gen. Hugh F. Foster Jr., who trained Comanche code talkers for the Army in World War II, has died. He was 86.Foster, of Doylestown Township, died Dec. 13 at home.
After graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in 1941, he joined the 4th Signal Company of the 4th Infantry Division, responsible for maintaining Army communications. He was assigned in September 1941 to train 17 Comanche soldiers as code talkers at Fort Benning, Ga.
Foster translated modern military terms such as "bomber" and "tank" into the Comanche language, a code that made Army phone or radio messages indecipherable to eavesdropping enemy forces.
He kept a notebook filled with the code's phonetic spellings because Comanches have no written language, said his son, retired Lt. Col. Hugh F. Foster III.
The Comanches served in Europe, and were among the Allied troops landing in Normandy, France, on D-Day. Navajo code talkers served with the U.S. Marine Corps in the Pacific during the war.
> Top US philanthropists.
> A Hungarian actress is honoured by Yad Vashem 'for her efforts to save Jews during World War II'.
> Eric on Benny Rothman.
> Gareth on cricket in Malaysia.
> Damian on an embarrassed friendship.
> Flop Eared Mule - country music blog.
> The Swisroll guys have moved. They were there. Now they're here.
> Richard with yet more on this sort of thing.